A typical pontoon boat includes a deck mounted on at least two separate hulls. The separate hulls of a pontoon boat are commonly referred to as “tubes”, “floats,” “pontoons,” “logs,” or “sponsons.” Commonly, pontoon boat sponsons function as displacement hulls and have generally cylindrical, tube-like shapes. A displacement hull is a hull that is supported exclusively or predominantly by buoyancy. Displacement hulls typically “plow” through the water and do not provide high levels of performance or efficiency.
In contrast to displacement hulls, planing hulls are hulls configured to develop positive dynamic pressure that creates lift causing hull draft to decrease with increasing speed. As a planning hull is lifted by dynamic pressure, the wetted surface area of the hull is reduced which reduces hull drag. As compared to displacement hulls, planing hulls are known to be more efficient at higher speeds and are known to provide higher performance particularly during turning. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,184,561; 5,435,260; 5,522,333; and United States Patent Application Publication No. US2009/0293790 disclose pontoon sponsons that function as planing hulls. However, improvements are needed in his area.